Comment 159 for bug 946232

On 10/03/2013 03:38 AM, The_Letter_J wrote:
> Please add this machine to the list impacted:
>
> Malibal Veda P180HM , aka Clevo P180HM , aka Sager np8180 (other rebranded flavors of this model also exist).
> RealTek ALC892 internal speakers fail to show up in sound-settings;
> instead the not-plugged-in iec598 aka S/PDIF output becomes default-sink.
>
> Using the workaround from comment#32 corrects the trouble for my
> hardware. I have composed a brief shell-script which I believe can be
> cut-n-pasted into the xterm, rather than having folks perform manual
> editing. Worked for me on 12.04.3 with all updates but I have only
> tested it on this one machine. David, or other canonical employee, if
> this looks useful you might consider pasting it into the intro at the
> top, or as an addendum to comment#32.

Hi The_Letter_J and thanks for your detailed answer. The script looks
handy in parts, but I don't get why you're trying to play back a
configuration file...

> In my particular case, the symptoms were not exactly as described, from
> what I can garner.

Having a look at your hardware, I notice that your bug is similar, but a
different one. In fact, just running a 3.5+ ubuntu kernel (or 3.6+
upstream kernel) fixes this bug completely, so it *must* be a different
bug. That's also why the symptoms are not exactly as described either.

In your case, you have unusual hardware: in addition to normal
headphones and stereo line out, you have 5.1 internal speakers. This
leads to unusual alsamixer names (e g "Speaker Front") which we do not
match for in PulseAudio. Fixing that means that we should add those
names in PulseAudio - but let's discuss that in a new bug instead.

> p.s. This was a dastardly difficult problem to track down. There are a
> couple things I would suggest for David and/or some other Ubuntu
> employee with commit access, to help endusers over this hump. First of
> all, a simple fix, pleas list the audio-chipsets in this bug, not just
> the model-names of the computers. Clevo P180Hm w/ RealTek ALC892, in my
> particular hardware. Most forums recommend that you search for your
> audio-chipset, not for your model-and-vendor, but this bug does not show
> up thataway currently.

Over 80% of audio bugs, including this one, are specific to the codec
*configuration*, which is usually best described with the PCI SSID
number or vendor+model. Bugs specific to a codec (Realtek ALC892) or
controller chip (Intel ICH6) are much less common.

The major exception to this rule is HDMI/Displayport audio or external
audio devices.

> Something quite brief,
> like the following, would suffice:
>
> Do not see your speakers? (with a hyperlink that takes them to this bug-report)
> Do not see your microphone? (again with the hyperlink)
>
> These would need to be translated, and verified to fit in the available
> pixel-real-estate of the dialogbox in question, but methinks it could be
> done without violating the spirit of an LTS release. Failing that,
> backporting David's 3.6 kernel fixes to the 3.5.0.41-series that is
> currently in use with 12.04.3 seems the only way to fix the root cause.

This backporting has already been done. Also, downloading Ubuntu LTS
today gives you an 3.8 kernel, so I think this bug is not that much of
an issue any more.

--
David Henningsson, Canonical Ltd.
https://launchpad.net/~diwic